Top talent from the Detroit area and right here in West Michigan will give the GVSU Large Jazz Ensemble a powerful punch in its final concert of the year, this Thursday,April 24, on the Allendale Campus.
The 8 p.m. concert is free, in the Louis Armstrong Theatre.
Bob Fazecash, an internationally renowned jazz trumpet player from the
Detroit area, is among the guest stars in the concert line-up. His performance resume reads like a who's who of jazz. He's played with the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Earl Klugh, Joe Wiliams, the J.C. Heard Orchestra, Thad Jones, Sammy Davis, Jr., Natalie Cole, and Aretha Franklin, to name a few.
Kathy Kosins, a well-known vocalist from Detroit, will sing arrangements and originals from Diane Schurr, Paul Keller,and Cab Calloway.
Bassist Dave Spring, known throughout the West Michigan jazz scene, and who recently returned to Grand Rapids from New Orleans will also be featured. Spring is the most recent addition to the GVSU adjunct jazz faculty.
Tim Froncek, a local drummer who teaches at GRCC and Western
Michigan University, will join Spring and GVSU Jazz Studies Director Kurt Ellenberger on piano to form the rhythm section.
I think we've made great strides toward making the jazz program a viable and professional ensemble, Ellenberger says of his first year at GVSU. We now have students studying jazz very seriously, and they are helping us to establish a strong core of committed players who are raising the level of the ensembles and setting a higher example to the others.
While jazz is a product of 20th Century America, Ellenberger says he's optimistic about what the new era will bring, both in music itself and also in jazz education.
One of the challenges, here and everywhere, is finding and keeping good students, but this is much easier here than I expected because of the outstanding support of the administration. We have wonderful scholarship programs that help us to attract the finest players, and again, this raises the level throughout the department he said.
We also have resources available to hire adjunct faculty to specialize on various instruments which makes a huge difference in shortening the time needed to develop the core players in the jazz program. I think that the ensemble will really show its growth in this concert and I am excited to be involved with such a fine group of young musicians.
